LUCKNOW: Bhuvneshwar Misra of Deoria sold off his ancestral land and mother’s jewelry to get a job visa to the UAE. However, his Dubai dream turned into a nightmare as soon as he, along with dozen other youth from eastern UP, landed in the city. Duped by their placement agency, the group had to spend a fortnight in a bus on the outskirts of Dubai before they were shifted to an accommodation on Sunday by some Indian expats.
“We are worried about Bhuvneshwar’s well-being,” said his brother Amit Kumar Misra of Deoria talking to TOI on phone. “We are in touch with him and want him to be back home safely,” he says. Eldest among three brothers, Bhuvneshwar was working with a private company in Ludhiana when a local placement agent Ramesh Prasad offered him a job in Dubai. “We were assured a pay scale of anything between 2000 to 4000 dirhams (Rs 36,000 to Rs 72,000) depending on our skills and qualification. But once we reached here, the ground realities were completely different,” Bhuvneshwar told TOI on phone.
“Here we engaged as construction workers and the living conditions were unbearable,” said Dharmendra (25) of Biswan Bazar in Kushinagar. A shuttering carpenter, Dharmendra had to take a loan of Rs 70,000 from a local money-lender to meet the visa and travelling expenses.
The group landed in Dubai about two months ago. However, barely a month later, their firm Qasr Al-Ameer disappeared. At that time they working at a construction site near the Fujairah-Oman border and were forced to vacate the residential accommodation.
“After spending a few days near another construction site in Al Qouz, we shifted to Dubai. There, we were left with no other option but to stay inside a company bus for over a fortnight. We never had a choice as the company had taken away our passports as well,” said Shiv Pratap Singh, another worker in the group.
“When my father came to know about what had happened to us here in Dubai, he took ill and passed away on December 18, apparently because of the shock,” Dharmendra said as he broke down several times during the
conversation.
After a forthnight-long ordeal, help came from NRIs in Dubai. “Girish Pant has been looking after us for over a week now. He has approached the ministry of external affairs (MEA) in India which has initiated steps for our early return. Dubai-based fashion designer Juhi Khan had approached us and is coordinating with the Indian Consulate to get our documents processed,” he said. The two also arranged for the group’s medical check-up and got them shifted to an accommodation on Sunday.
Girish, a social activist working at a private company in Dubai, said he had approached the UP government as well and has been assured of all help. “We are aware of the issue and directed our resident commissioner in Delhi to take up the issue with the MEA,” said principal secretary, information Navneet Sehgal. About action against the travel and placement agents who had reportedly duped the jobless youths, Sehgal said: “Once they are back in India, we will take their complaints and ensure strict action against those found guilty.”
